Former La Liga goalkeeper Roberto Jimenez has opened up on the “nightmare” that he endured when facing Barcelona legend Lionel Messi.
Roberto spent time with Atletico Madrid, Real Zaragoza, Espanyol and Malaga in his playing days, while also taking in a brief spell on the books of Premier League side West Ham. Competing at the highest level in Spain presented the experienced shot-stopper with plenty of challenges.
Eight-time Ballon d’Or winner Messi proved to be a serious thorn in his side, with the Argentine scoring 13 goals against him – with that impressive haul including one hat-trick and four braces. Roberto boasts special mementos of his meetings with Messi, but never dared to ask for the South American’s shirt.
Roberto has told Los Fulanos: “Messi has been an absolute nightmare for me. I have the shirts of all the great players I have faced and those of my friends, but I never wanted Messi’s. Now I regret it because when time passes, you say, well, ‘I’ve played against him’. If he drove me crazy, it’s because I was there, too, on the same field as him, but I never asked him for his shirt because he always humiliated me.
“I didn’t have the strength to go up and ask him for his shirt. He made me feel very bad. He made me feel ashamed. I know how many goals he has scored against me because, I don’t know if you remember or know, that a few years ago a beer brand gave a beer to each goalkeeper that Messi had scored a goal against. So, of course, I have the beers at home. I have 13!
“I think I’m one of the goalkeepers who has the most. Now, is that good or bad? It’s bad because it’s a big number, but it’s good because obviously it wasn’t in one or two matches, but in many, so I can say that I have faced the best player in the world many times.”
While boasting unfortunate memories of Messi, Roberto claims that facing his eternal rival Cristiano Ronaldo was “fun” at times. He said of trying to keep Real Madrid’s all-time leading goalscorer out: “I had a better time playing with Cristiano. Because with Messi, you only had him in front of you when he was going to score a goal, otherwise he was somewhere else, but I don’t think I made a single save against Messi. It’s tough. Every time I’ve had him in front of me, he scored a goal.
“Cristiano has been different. He’d take the ball, turn around and head it 25 times. So I’ve had many more opportunities to save him and in the end that makes the fight between striker and goalkeeper more fun. Obviously, he’s scored goals against me, but I’ve made very good saves against him, too, so it’s been a different relationship.”
Messi and Ronaldo are still going strong at the ages of 37 and 39 respectively, with more major honours being chased down while maintaining impressive strike rates on the books of MLS side Inter Miami and Saudi Pro League outfit Al-Nassr.
